01 – Chapter 1 – What You Should Know About Self-Hypnosis

FORWARD and Chapter one of a Practical Guide to Self Hypnosis by Melvin Powers This is a LibriVox remote. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox dot org. Recording by Andrea. A practical guide to self hypnosis by Melvin Powell.

FORD All of us like to think that our actions and reactions are a result of logical thought processes. But the fact is that suggestion influences our thinking a great deal more than logic. Consciously or unconsciously, our feelings about almost everything are largely molded by ready made opinions and attitudes. fostered by our mass methods of communication. We cannot buy a bar of soap or a filtered cigarette without paying tribute to the impact of suggestions.

Right or wrong, most of us place more confidence in what they say than what we do in our own powers of reason. This is the basic reason why psychiatrists are in short supply. We distrust our own mental processes and want an expert to tell us what to think and feel. Despite this tendency to adopt our attitudes from others, man has always been dimly aware that he can influence his own destiny by directing his thoughts and actions into constructive channels.

He has always, to some extent, known that his mind exerts a powerful influence on his body. and that thoughts can have harmful or helpful effects on his emotional and physical health. The ancient Egyptian sleep temples and the attempts by early physicians to drive evil spirits out of the body were both attempts to influence the body through the mind.

The unprecedented sale of the power of positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peel and other inspirational literature proves that millions of modern people recognize the efficacy of constructive thought. What most of them do not recognize is that they are capable of implanting these beneficial thoughts in their own minds without reference to any outside agents. This can be done through self hypnosis and In modern society we have many cults, religions, and methodologies

them which have mental discipline as their goal. The best example of a methodology is psychosomatic medicine, which deals with the interrelationship of the mind and body in the production of mental or physical illness. The rapid growth of hypnosis in the last few years is another example, and it is gratifying to see that the emphasis in this field is now shifting from heterohypnosis to self hypnosis.

Self hypnosis is a highly suggestible state wherein the individual can direct suggestions to himself. It is a powerful tool in any therapeutic process, and highly motivated subjects can parallel the success of heterohypnosis through their own efforts. Self hypnosis can be used as a palliative agent and can even afford lasting results in many areas of the organism.

Self hypnosis can alleviate distressing symptoms, substitute strong responses for weak responses, help overcome bad habits, create good habits, and help one's power of concentration. The total personality is eventually changed to the point where it can function adequately in an increasingly difficult environment. In learning self hypnosis, the subject does not relinquish control of himself as is commonly believed. Actually, more control is gained.

Self sufficiency and self confidence are inevitable results. It is well to remember, however, that even good things may be overdone, and good judgment is necessary for favorable results. Neither hypnosis nor self hypnosis should ever be used indiscriminately. The effectiveness of self hypnosis depends upon many factors. Strong motivation, intelligent application of suggestions, and diligence are prerequisites.

We are not suggesting that self hypnosis can take the place of all forms of psychotherapy. We do recommend it as an adjunct to therapy when indicated. Used judiciously, it can contribute a great deal to the individual's physical and emotional well being and happiness. As a professional hypnotist for many years, I have seen astounding and apparently miraculous results by individuals using self-hypnosis. Many of these cases seem unbelievable to those not familiar with hypnotic phenomena.

It should be remembered, though, that many individuals seek hypnosis only when all other forms of therapy have failed. This is so common that hypnosis has come to be known as a port of last call. Yet despite the seeming hopelessness of such cases, medical literature lists thousands of remarkable recoveries. There is nothing hit or miss about hypnosis. Used intelligently, the results are the same for all those who are properly motivated. Nor are the results singular to modern hypnotists alone.

In reviewing the literature going back more than one hundred years, the same gratifying results were obtained. The reader would do well to scan some out of print books on hypnosis at the library to understand the point further. This book is written in terms that are comprehensible to the layman. The step by step instruction should afford the reader a means of acquiring self hypnosis. The necessary material is here. The reader need only follow the instructions as they are given.

The author wishes to thank Robert S. Starlet, member of the American Medical Writers Association, for his valuable help in the editorial preparation of this book. It is the author's hope that you will, through the selective use of self hypnosis, arrive at a more rewarding, well adjusted, and fuller life. Melvin Powers one hundred twenty fifteen Sherman Road North Hollywood, California nine one six oh five.

Chapter one What you should know about self hypnosis is the Hypnosis has been defined as a state of heightened suggestibility in which the subject is able to uncritically accept ideas for self improvement and act on them appropriately. When a hypnotist hypnotizes his subject, it is known as heterohypnosis. When an individual puts himself into a state of hypnosis, it is known as self hypnosis.

In both cases, the subject has achieved a heightened state of suggestibility. Even in heterohypnosis, the subject really controls the response to suggestion. Actually, all hypnosis is really a matter of self hypnosis. The subject enters into the hypnotic state when he is completely ready to do so. This may require from one to many attempts before it is achieved. Even if the subject insists that he wants to be hypnotized immediately, he may be resisting hypnosis unconsciously.

In self hypnosis, the same thing usually takes place. The subject is anxious to achieve self hypnosis, but somehow the state eludes him. What's wrong? It may be that he is unconsciously resisting it, hasn't conditioned himself sufficiently. Or has achieved the hypnotic state and doesn't know he is in the state. This last statement may be surprising, but we will examine it in detail a little later on.

Most experts agree that about 90% of the population can be hypnotized. My own feeling is that probably ninety-nine percent can be hypnotized. Who among us is not influenced by suggestion? Aren't we all, as we have seen, influenced by the suggestions of advertising? Don't we all have a tendency to believe what we read in the paper, hear on the radio, or see on television? Aren't we all convinced that a name brand article is better than one that is not so well known?

Suggestion plays a tremendously important role in our daily lives. It begins from naming the baby with an appropriate name to securing a suitable place for interesting. I would like to call the reader's attention to a fascinating book dealing with the unconscious reasons why we do so many of the things that we do. You will be intrigued with every page of the book. It is called The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard.

My contention is that we are all suggestible, and therefore being hypnotized or hypnotizing ourselves is just a matter of increasing the suggestibility that we already possess. Doesn't the hypnotist begin by suggesting relaxation? Doesn't he usually begin by requesting the subject to fix his attention on a particular object? Next, he suggests to the subject that his eyes are becoming heavy and tired. As soon as the subject closes his eyes, he suggests that he will be in a deep hypnotic state.

I am sure that you are familiar with this procedure. With each step the hypnotist is guiding the subject along directed lines to get him to accept further suggestions without question or doubt. When the subject achieves the ultimate state in this procedure, he has been hypnotized. He then accepts suggestions without equivocation.

Let us continue with the same thought. Suppose I say to you, I'm going to stick you with this pin. It won't hurt. Would you let me stick you with the pin? Obviously not. Let us suppose that you have been hypnotized, and I repeat the same suggestion. What happens then? You readily accept the suggestion as being factual. Should I proceed to stick you with the pin, you do not even flinch.

In fact, you do not even feel the pain. Does this sound incredible? Isn't this exactly the same procedure that the dentist uses with his patient when he has hypnotized him for the purpose of painless dentistry? Achieving hypnosis, therefore, is a matter of directing this suggestibility that we all possess into the channels that will finally produce the hypnotic state. It can be much more complicated than this explanation in many cases. But let us use this as a working premise.

Everyone can be hypnotized. The time required for achieving hypnosis will vary from subject to subject. We will discuss some of the reasons for this in a subsequent chapter, but for our discussion at this time we need to understand this point. I have encountered numerous individuals who were extremely disappointed because they did not respond to hypnosis immediately or after several attempts.

They wanted to know what was wrong. An explanation that nothing was wrong somehow did not satisfy these individuals. After all, they argued, didn't I go to a hypnotist, especially to be hypnotized? Some insinuated that perhaps the hypnotist wasn't too good. Let me explain that most subjects need to be conditioned for hypnosis.

And this conditioning is helped when the subject practices certain conditioning exercises that I shall discuss in detail in chapter six, titled How to Attain Self Hypnosis. In my teaching, I have found that about one out of ten subjects responds to the first attempt at hypnosis. One cannot make a definite statement as to the length of time necessary to learn self hypnosis, but it is my experience that this usually takes about one month.

I have had subjects learn self hypnosis in about thirty minutes, but I must also relate that I have worked with subjects for one year before they achieved it. For the most part, the laws of learning apply to self hypnosis as with anything else that one would want to learn. It can be a relatively simple procedure, or it can be very perplexing.

The answer lies not so much with the hypnotist as with the subject. One question that arises is if I'm under hypnosis, how can I give myself suggestion? During the hypnotic state it must be remembered, the subject is always aware of what is going on. He hears what is said, follows directions, and terminates the state when told to do so. In the self hypnotic state, the subject is in full control. Therefore, he can think, reason, act, criticize, suggest, or do whatever he desires.

He can audibly give himself suggestions, or he can mentally give himself suggestions. In either case, he does not rouse from the hypnotic state unless he gives himself specific suggestions to do so. Many feel if they audibly give themselves suggestions, they will awaken. In hypnoanalysis, the subject answers questions during the hypnotic stage. Having the subject talk does not terminate the state. You can keep the talkative subject under hypnosis as long as you want.

Furthermore, the subject can be sitting erect, with his eyes open, and still be under hypnosis. Carrying this further, the subject may not even be aware that he is under hypnosis. He can be given a cue not to remember when the therapist makes a certain motion or says a certain word, that he will go back into the hypnotic state, but still keep his eyes on it. Only an experienced hypnotist could detect the change. Another frequent question is how do I arouse myself from the self hypnotic state?

You merely say to yourself that upon counting to five, you will open your eyes and wake up feeling fine. Many times the subject falls asleep while giving himself post hypnotic suggestions. This is not undesirable, since the suggestions will spill over into the subconscious mind as he goes from consciousness to unconscious. A popular opinion about hypnosis is that the subject surrenders his will to the hypnotist in the process of being hypnotized.

Furthermore, many believe that once the subject is hypnotized, the hypnotist has complete control of the subject, and the subject is powerless to resist suggestion. Both beliefs are erroneous. I believe the first misconception comes from seeing techniques where the hypnotist requests the subject to look into his eyes. The hypnotist suggests to the subject that as he continues to look into his eyes, he will fall into a deep hypnotic state. This then becomes a matter of who can outstare whom.

The subject usually begins to blink his eyes and And the hypnotist follows us up with rapid suggestions that the subject's eyes are becoming watery and heavy, and that the subject will fall into a deep hypnotic sleep just as soon as he, the subject, closes his eyes. This procedure gives the impression to the observer that the subject is willed to go under hypnosis. It appears that once the hypnotist concentrates, or wills sufficiently, the subject succumbs.

Actually, the hypnotist in this technique is not looking into the eyes of the subject. He fixes his attention on the bridge of the nose of the subject. The concept that the subject is a helpless automaton stems from the weird movies where the mad scientist has hypnotized subjects into behaving like zombies. Naturally, there is usually a beautiful girl in the movie, and she too has been hypnotized.

Even though the audience is sophisticated enough to realize that this science fiction drama is purely entertainment, the theme is repeated sufficiently in novels, comics, and television. To make an indelible impression on the subconscious mind. It's the technique of telling the big lie so many times that it becomes believable. We are all influenced by this procedure. There is an excellent book explaining this very premise.

It is called Battle for the Mind by William Sargent. It describes in detail the technique by which evangelists, psychiatrists, politicians, and advertising men can change your beliefs and behavior. Following the reason that the subconscious mind can be affected, you can see that a problem could present itself even though the subject consciously wishes to be hypnotized. Unconsciously, there may be a poor inner relationship with the hypnotist, which can create an unfavorable climate for hypnosis.

When this is the case, the subject doesn't respond until such a time that he relates well to the hypnotic. Even the most calculated procedures will fail until a positive transference relationship is established. I am sure that you sometimes have said for some reason I don't like that person. If pressed for an answer, you'll probably reply, I can't explain it, but I just have a feeling about it.

Actually your subconscious reactions are influencing your thinking and you feel a certain way. The same thing takes place in business transactions. You either like or dislike the proposition presented to you. You may say, I have a certain feeling about this deal. You may not be conscious of the reasons, but your subconscious has reacted automatically because of previous experience along similar lines.

In giving you some insight into the hypnotic procedure, I am trying to point out certain problems in regard to acquiring self hypnosis. For the most part, it is not a simple procedure that is accomplished immediately. You can't just will it. It requires working toward a specific goal and following definite procedures which eventually lead to success.

The hypnotist is usually endowed by the subject with an omniscience and infallibility which logically is unjustified. The subject is naturally extremely disappointed if he doesn't respond immediately. If he loses confidence in the hypnotist, he may never achieve hypnosis with this particular hypnotist. I have hypnotized subjects who have been to several other hypnotists without success, and I have had some of my unsuccessful subjects hypnotized by other hypnotists.

How and why does it happen that I believe that some of the reasons are so intangible that it would be impossible to explain all of them with any degree of exactitude. I once saw an individual about twelve times who wanted to learn self hypnosis and had been unsuccessful in every approach. I asked him if he would volunteer as a subject for a class in techniques of hypnosis that I was teaching for nurses. He readily volunteered and showed up at the designated time.

Much to my amazement, as well as his own, he responded within a relatively short time as one of the nurses hypnotized him before the group. She had used a standard eye closure technique, requesting him to look at a spinning hypnotic that I had previously used with him every time he was in the office. Her manner was extremely affable. She had used the identical technique I had used unsuccessfully, and the subject responded excellently to cap the climax.

He was the first subject the nurse had ever hypnotized, since this was only her third lesson. How would you account for it? Here was one of my students with two weeks experience hypnotizing a subject where I had failed while using every procedure that I felt would work. Was it because she was a better hypnotist? Perhaps. However, I'd like to recall at this time our discussion about subconscious responses.

I'm inclined to feel that being hypnotized by a middle aged female nurse created certain favorable unconscious responses, which accounted for his going under hypnosis at that time. It created the initial breakthrough which was needed. I was able to hypnotize him easily at his next appointment, and he acquired self hypnosis readily from that time on.

I have tried the same approach with other subjects who did not respond favorably, and have failed to attain the success that I did in the above case. Why the impasse? It is one of the difficulties that we encounter in hypnosis, and as yet it has not been resolved. We know that the easiest way to achieve self hypnosis is to be hypnotized and given a post hypnotic suggestion that you will respond to hypnosis by a keyword, phrase, or gesture.

I have tried to point out some problems that can arise. Needless to say, these problems do not always arise, and the attainment of self hypnosis can be a relatively simple procedure. There is usually some way of reaching a subject who does not respond in a reasonable length of time. Now we come to the point where the subject wishes to hypnotize himself. What happens in this situation?

It would appear that the subject would go under hypnosis immediately. After all, isn't he controlling the hypnotic session? Of course, this does happen time and time again, and the results seem miraculous. I receive mail constantly from readers of several of my other books on hypnosis, telling me how they were able to achieve certain goals that they never dreamed possible.

They write that they have achieved self confidence and complete self mastery, and have been able to overcome problems that have plagued them for many years. These problems not only include strictly psychological troubles, but many psychosomatic symptoms as well. Many have remarked at the ease in which they were able to achieve self hypnosis and the results they wanted. For them it was as simple as following a do it yourself book.

Others write about the difficulty they encounter and ask what to do about it. It is my hope that this book will shed some light for those who have experienced difficulty in learning self hypnosis. We shall discuss many phases of hypnosis with the emphasis on self hypnosis. We'll discuss its many ramifications and try not to leave out anything helpful in our discussion.

If you follow the instructions and exercises that I give you assiduously, you will be able to achieve a depth of self hypnosis suitable for solving many of your personal problems. End of Forward and Chapter one Recording by Andrea Fiori